Eighteen years before the events of Chaos and Consequences
Darkness surrounded him. It extended as far as he could see, drowning everything in despair. Even the very ground he stood on was pure darkness. It was everywhere. Endless. Suffocating. He didn’t know why he was here, how he got here, or if he was still living or in some other state of existence. His mind couldn’t focus; a swirling cluster of thoughts firing simultaneously without balance, without a purpose.
Nothing made sense. The young man shook his head, unable to recall any previous thoughts before this moment. It was as if he never existed, or maybe he never did. His head spun as he searched for answers. None surfaced, and the silence began to trigger a primal rage he never knew was there.
“Fuck!” he cursed loudly at literally no one. Or was it in his mind? And he only thought it was projected verbally across the emptiness? The darkness wouldn’t let him understand the basic concept of noise, let alone independent thought.
He put two fingers to his throat. It was still there, as was the rest of his body as he glanced down. “Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!” That time he felt his vocal cords move. He was sure of it. He had to be sure of it. Right now, it was the only thing he was sure of.
Okay. Focus Toby. Maybe this place has an exit. He scanned the horizon all around him, his curiosity quickly turning into desperation. There was no end in sight, no matter how much he wished it into existence. It didn’t exist at all. He began to wonder if he existed, or if this was what it was like after their mortal life reached the end of its road.
He knelt down, praying for a sign that this wasn’t the end of the line. That he wasn’t truly dead, or worse, in some existential crisis of being in between life and some other afterlife that he will never reach.
Moments passed. He tried to remain calm, tried to remember who he was, what he had done to end up here. Faint memories, like he had seen them one time on a device lifetime ago, surfaced. Gunfire, pain, sticky crimson, and the cold of metal on the side of his face. He didn’t want to believe he was dead, but what other conclusion could he come to if those are the only memories he could recall? Or maybe they were someone else’s memories and he just happened to be there when it occurred?
The moments turned into hours, or was it days? Time didn’t move, nor did the oppressive darkness around him. In fact, it seemed to close in, squeezing the life out of his body as he slowing his grip on reality.
“Pathetic,” a low voice said with disdain and pity dripping from it. “This is what the Aetherials have been reduced to now: groveling cowards with broken minds.” The man looked around, searching for the source of the hissing voice. If there was a voice, there had to be a being nearby. That’s how it works, right?
He squinted his eyes, hoping that would help him locate the source. The words would have bit hard, if he had known who he was, where he was, or what he was.
“Your name is Tobias Stormbringer. You are in a state of nothingness, as you should be. You were once an Aetherial, one who foolishly dabbles in magical forces they know very little about; gallivanting across the universe trying to save every damsel in distress. Does that sate your curious hunger, young Aetherial? Or would you like to know more?” Despite the answers, he feared asking, or even thinking, more questions. He didn’t know how long this being would be here, so he mustered up the courage to ask more.
“Who, or what, are you? What do you want with me?”
A being appeared before him. Though it was humanoid in appearance, something wasn’t quite right. Darkness, somehow visible against the midnight black around him, dripped like wet tar from the being’s limbs. It was tall, lanky, with clawed crooked hands and feet. Its face didn’t have any distinct features except an abnormally long crease where its mouth should be. The strange face smiled, lips curving up to where the cheekbones would normally be. It sent shivers down Tobias’ spine, and made the hair on his neck stand straight up in uneasiness.
The mouth never moved to speak, yet he could hear the words it projected crystal clear through the empty space surrounding him and that crept into his mind. “I go by many names; some more appropriate than others. Your archivists will not have mentioned my name, for fear of me instantly appearing as some boogieman. While amusing in concept, my being and power goes much deeper than a children’s tale. I am the original. I am the one who was the first to unlock the true power that Aether holds, and was exiled because of it.
The council feared me, as they should have. I was able to wield power beyond their imagination. With more practice, I could shape the fabric of the worlds around us. It is a shame I was never given the time to fully explore the secrets they tried to hide. Though I’ve had many, my true name, is Master Apophis.”
A clawed hand reached out and gently held his chin up by the tip of a black nail. The icy touch unnerved him, and the words he spoke were daggers through his heart. From the little he could remember now, this being was right. They never mentioned him before, and if what he says is true, he wondered why. If he was able to discover the true extent of how beings could use the Aether, what was the reasoning behind the Council of Elders sending him into exile?
“If you join me, I will show you how to unlock your true potential. Come, join me my young friend, and help me bring about the end of the Aetherials. They betrayed you; left you for dead, just like your father. They are everything that is wrong with the universe. I will not abandon you as they did. Become the being known as Endbringer, and I’ll make sure you get your revenge.”
He stared directly into its face. His thoughts came into focus. He remembered being scared, pain, suffering, and watching his brother run away from his trembling body as it lay on the cold, metal floor with pooling blood.
That was the end for him. It should have been the end. Yet, somehow, by the grace of the gods old and new, here he was. Somewhere, sometime, somehow.
The young Aetherial kneeled before the strange being and bowed. “I will be your Endbringer, Master Apophis. The Aetherials will be wiped out, and together, we will bring justice to the galaxy.”
A tinge of satisfied distantness permeated through the Aether, and Tobias knew, he would never be the same again.